City Council

January 26, 2016 The regular meeting of the Council of the City of Martinsville, Virginia, was held on January 26, 2016, in Council Chambers, Municipal Building, at 7:30 PM, Closed Session beginning at 7:00pm, with Mayor Danny Turner presiding. Council Members present included: Danny Turner, Gene Teague, Sharon Brooks Hodge, Jennifer Bowles and Mark Stroud. Staff present included: City Manager Leon Towarnicki, Assistant City Manager Wayne Knox, Clerk of Council Karen Roberts, City Attorney Eric Monday, Finance Director Linda Conover, Community Planner Susan McCulloch, Director of Water Resources Andy Lash, Telecommunications Director Mike Scaffidi, Director of Electric Durwin Joyce and Police Chief Sean Dunn. Mayor Turner called the meeting to order and advised Council would go into Closed Session. In accordance with Section 2.1-344 (A) of the Code of Virginia (1950, and as amended) and upon a motion by Vice Mayor Bowles, seconded by Council Member Stroud, with the following 5-0 recorded vote: Bowles, aye; Stroud, aye; Teague, aye; Turner, aye; and Hodge, aye; Council convened in Closed Session for the purpose of discussing the following matters: (A) Discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose, or of the disposition of publicly held real property, where discussion, in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body, as authorized by Subsection 3, and (B) Consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members, attorneys or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation, or other specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel, as authorized by Subsection 7. At the conclusion of Closed Session, each returning member of Council certified that (1) only public business matters exempt from open meeting requirements were discussed in said Closed Session; and (2) only those business matters identified in the motion convening the Closed Session were heard, discussed, or considered during the Session. On a motion by Bowles, seconded by Hodge, with the following 5-0 recorded vote in favor to return to Open Session: Turner, aye; Teague, aye; Bowles, aye; Hodge, aye; Stroud, aye. Following the invocation by Vice Mayor Stroud and Pledge to the American Flag, Mayor Turner welcomed everyone to the meeting. Consider approval of minutes from the January 12, 2016 meeting – on a motion by Teague, seconded by Hodge and with a 5-0 vote in favor, Council approved the January 12, 2016 minutes as presented. Read a Proclamation acknowledging February, 2016 as Black History Month – Vice Mayor Bowles read the Proclamation acknowledging February 2016 as Black History Month and welcomed Naomi Hodge-Muse to the podium to accept the Proclamation. Ms. Muse thanked Council for the Proclamation. Hear an update on FY16 Telecommunications operations – Mike Scaffidi updated Council on the City’s telecommunications program. Hodge asked if the current customers January 26, 2016 included previous customers who were on the waiting list. Mr. Scaffidi said that most of those who had been on the waiting list had been connected. City Manager Towarnicki said there is a rolling list of customers including new customers who were not on the list previously. Scaffidi confirmed that their intent is to connect to businesses only at this time and there is a fine line when customers ask for connections in residential areas for a business either in their home or on their residential property. Mr. Scaffidi detailed expenses and revenue and stated that most infrastructure construction is completed the beginning of the fiscal year. Linda Conover answered Council’s questions regarding the expenses verses revenue. City Manager Towarnicki referred Council to Mr. Scaffidi’s last slide detailing the FY16 Plant Expansion- Projects. January 26, 2016 Consider a request for rezoning of 51 Lester Street and 49-Lot Lester Street from M-2 – Heavy Manufacturing District to C-2 – Central Business District – Susan McCulloch detailed the request for rezoning of 51 Lester Street and 49-Lot Lester Street. Sylvan Road Partners has worked successfully in Martinsville on the Martinsville Lofts complex on Rives Road. Lynwood Davis of Sylvan Road Partners provided additional information to Council on sample projects relevant to the property they are interested in developing in the City. His organization focuses primarily on historic properties for development. Their focus is on the smaller communities and their expertise is on financing properties so they can do first rate developments, specifically for sale/for rent multi-family properties in those communities. He points out that the building has been well maintained by the church but a large manufacturing company would not consider moving into this location. Sylvan Road Partners would like to put this building back into service by purchasing the property for development. Teague asked if Mr. Davis was confident that there would be a need for this type of property in the City. Mr. Davis said the next step would be a third-party market study but he is willing to spend a lot of money on this project because they are confident in the trend they see in this area. He shared before and after pictures of other projects with Council including Martinsville Lofts which he said won a National Award. The desired property is approximately 93,000 square feet and it would be a mix of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments. Total development cost of this building would be around $11-$12 million and the project would be very “Green” and accessible to everyone. Sylvan Road Partners would be the long term owners and the building would be professionally managed. They view this as a gateway project for Martinsville and feel that it falls under the revitalization goals of the City. Council Members expressed concern that this project could eventually be used as low-income or Section-8 housing. Mr. Davis advised that would not be the case. Bowles made a motion to set the public hearing for February 23, 2016 to rezone the American warehouse, Stroud seconded the motion, all Council Members voted in favor. January 26, 2016 Hear quarterly staff update on Utilities—electric/water/sewer – Andy Lash presented a PowerPoint presentation regarding the Water and Wastewater department detailing production, revenue and expenditures, and current projects. City Manager Towarnicki stated January 26, 2016 that the Sewer plant is operating at about 50% capacity, the Water plant is also operating well below available capacity. The water and sewer rates will need to be discussed again with the FY17 budget. As part of the Johnson Controls energy project, they are looking at additional projects including equipment that would create higher-class sludge that could be used as a fertilizer contingent on the amount of sludge coming into the plant. He commented on the Flint, Michigan issues and the possibility of those issues happening in Martinsville. Mr. Lash stated that problem could not happen in Martinsville because of the procedures and treatments in place. There is a process to continuously monitoring the quality of the water. In addition to the Reservoir and the Leatherwood station, the City also has a connection to the County PSA if necessary. Durwin Joyce presented additional PowerPoint slides detailing financial benefits of the hydroelectric generation and the landfill gas generation, revenue and expenses, and current projects. Hodge asked if they have given any more consideration to solar. Mr. Joyce said they are still considering solar and they have been given a little more time to study the option and still receive the tax credits. Towarnicki said when the landfill was closed in 2005 the requirement was that it would need to be permanently capped with gas vents, discharging the gas to the atmosphere. Depending on the atmospheric pressure the area could smell very bad. By putting in a flaring station the gas is burned off. Next step was the application to apply for the grant to install the generator. Gas studies at the landfill provided information on the gas production levels, that information showed the City was at peak production of gas. The gas levels go up and down depending on temperature and barometric pressure. Recently the levels have been going down slightly but he’s not sure if this trend will continue. He feels that there is still 10-15 years of gas to be used in the Landfill. Mr. Joyce said once the landfill gas is completely gone, it’s still possible to run the generator on natural gas and still come out ahead. January 26, 2016 January 26, 2016 Consider adoption of the City’s 2016 Strategic Plan – City Manager Towarnicki summarized the actions taken to date relating to the Strategic Plan. He pointed out minor revisions that have been made to the plan. He stated that the Plan can be amended at any time. Teague made a motion to adopt the Strategic Plan as presented, Hodge seconded the motion, all Council Members voted in favor. January 26, 2016 Hear information related to the FY17 budget process – City Manager Towarnicki provided general information about FY17 budget, explaining that tentatively May 10 th would be the date for approval on second reading with first reading tentatively on April 26. Budget presentation would probably be April 12. Teague expressed concern about the tight schedule. Towarnicki stated that he had already provided a 5% reduction target for the schools and the department heads. There are several factors that could affect the expected budget reduction. January 26, 2016 Unless there are significant changes on the revenue side, he expects this reduction to carry on into FY18. By spreading it out over two years it lessens the impact to the citizens. Staff has been kept informed on what to expect. Bowles thanked Towarnicki for being transparent and working with the departments to get the numbers as early as possible. Towarnicki shared the possibility of cutting ties with the Armory since the City does not have access to public use of that location. Teague said in his opinion the time for funding of the Armory should be over. Towarnicki said that not having public use of the building has actually removed a considerable amount of time and paperwork for staff. Consider approval of consent agenda – A motion was made by Teague and seconded by Stroud to approve the consent agenda as presented, all Council Members voted in favor. Comments by members of City Council – Council Member Stroud reminded the citizens that the Sheriff’s Department runs the Project Lifesaver program for seniors, autistic children, and residents with mental illness. Vice Mayor Bowles read a Resolution recognizing City Manager Towarnicki for receiving the Fred Herring Award. She thanked him for being an advocate for Council and the City. Hodge thanked him for putting forth enthusiasm and serving as an advocate for the small business initiative. Turner stated he knows that Towarnicki has several projects on his plate. Bowles shared that the Millennials of Martinsville and Henry County would be sending a donation to Flint, Michigan and she invited the residents to visit their Facebook page, the PayPal link, or contact an organization representative to contribute to the donation. She wanted to thank the Public Works crew for their work clearing roads during snow storm. City Attorney Monday recognized Mr. & Mrs. William Carter, lifelong residents on Parkview who passed a few years ago. In their wills they left a bequest to the City in total of $13,500 that would be added to the Good Neighbor fund. Turner thanked Vice Mayor Bowles for her assistance in keeping Facebook pages updated and January 26, 2016 responding to concerns during the snow storm. He thanked the Police Department, the Fire Chief and other departments for working together on the Spruce Street Apartment Complex fire. Comments by City Manager – Leon Towarnicki stated that there would be an audit update at the February 9th meeting. David Hughes and other staff will be present for Council members to meet with and ask questions. He stated that crews working during the weather covered12-hour shifts clearing the roads. He explained the process stating while the storm is in progress and it’s actively snowing, the crews would remain on the main routes to keep those as clear as possible. The plan is always to scrape every street at least once within a 24 hour period. Unfortunately while the trucks are on the main routes, traffic continues on secondary streets packing the snow down causing the plows to ride over the ice and snow that has become bonded to the pavement. Trucks continued to work days later going back through locations to get all streets cleared. Parked cars cause issues, sometimes restricting the plows to only clear one lane of some roads. An additional problem with this storm was people digging out cars and driveways and pushing snow back out into the street. The City cannot treat every street with salt because of budget restraints. Some locations are known problem areas so crews treat those areas prior to snow storms. Towarnicki confirmed that the City does not clear driveways, only City streets. He said that crews have begun to clear snow piles from the side of roads especially Uptown. During inclement weather if there is a medical emergency, a death where visitation will be at a home or other special circumstances, he asked that residents contact Public Works and they would be happy to help. Towarnicki said his award from CPEG is an extension of the working relationship that he has with Council and the collaboration they have. Business from the Floor (not televised) – no comments There being no further business, a motion was made by Council Member Teague to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Council Member Stroud with all Council Members voting in favor. The meeting adjourned at 10:05pm. ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Karen Roberts Danny Turner Clerk of Council Mayor